1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to identifying objects and, in particular, to identifying objects in images. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for identifying information about parts of spatially unresolved objects using hyperspectral radiant intensity measurements for the objects.
2. Background
Monitoring the presence of objects and/or tracking the movement of objects in an environment may be useful in performing various activities. Oftentimes, monitoring and tracking operations are performed using different types of sensor systems. These different types of sensor systems may include, for example, without limitation, camera systems, video camera systems, infrared imaging systems, radar systems, spectral imaging systems, hyperspectral sensor systems, multi-spectral sensor systems, and/or other suitable types of sensor systems.
As one example, camera systems may be used to monitor the movement of vehicles on roads and highways. As another example, radar imaging systems may be used to monitor the presence of aircraft within a particular portion of airspace to control the flow of air traffic.
However, in some cases, sensor systems may not provide enough information to allow an object that has been detected to be identified. As one illustrative example, an imaging system may be used to generate images for the launch of a spacecraft. The spacecraft may be a launch vehicle with boosters attached to the launch vehicle. Images may be generated by the imaging system as the launch vehicle launches and moves through the Earth's atmosphere into space.
As the launch vehicle moves further away, the number of pixels that represent the launch vehicle in the images generated may be reduced. As the number of pixels representing the launch vehicle is reduced, the spatial resolution needed to identify the object in the image as the launch vehicle also may be reduced. In other words, the images may not provide enough information to accurately identify the object in the image as the launch vehicle.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.